First, Peruvian is not Hispanic, and anyone who thinks that racists are all sitting around doing nothing but rubbing their hands together and mubling racial slurs is an idiot. A lot of racists happen to be quite nice to those of other color from time to time. And you do not have to be pure white to be a racist.

Second, there are now pictures and videos from police surveillance of Zimmerman immediately following the "attack" which show no injuries on Zimmerman and no blood on him (as there would be if he shot someone on top of him).

Third, the forensic report shows no injuries to Martin's hands, as there would be had he punched Zimmerman.

Fourth, the fact that Zimmerman was in a truck and Martin was on foot pretty much throws any and all self defense claims for Zimmerman out the window.

Fifth, anyone saying that Zimmerman was "defending himself" automatically loses credibility if they then claim that an unarmed kid who had every right to be in the area would have no right to defend himself WITH HIS FISTS should a man WITH A GUN start following him as he makes his way home.

Sixth, Martin's suspensions hold no candle to Zimmerman's priors. And in either case, neither one has anything to do with the events of the evening in question.

Seventh, even the lead investigator believed that charges should have been brought up against Zimmerman, but he was shot down by his superior, no pun intended.

I could go on and on, but it's not like anyone here will change their mind. You'll all continue to grasp at whatever straws you can when it's obvious that there was no reason why this kid should have been shot.

Meanwhile, Casey Anthony is also complaining that she can't go out in public for fear of her life, but at least she went before a jury.

This is pretty simple. Zimmerman was in a vehicle. The kid was on foot. All it takes is a simple look at Google maps to see just how far Zimmerman followed the kid. If you follow someone who is on foot for that distance while you are in a vehicle, you don't have an argument for self defense. And IF Martin did fight back, it WOULD have been self defense on his part since, you know, he was the one being stalked and harassed.

And by the way... The U.S. is a net EXPORTER of gasoline. In September, the U.S. exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline than it imported. But let's not let facts get in the way of your "ZOMG WE NEED MOAR FUEL" panic-ridden rant.

alltoknow, you might want to actually look into the KPL. It's a VERY raw deal. Any jobs created would be temporary and would have been WELL below the estimates that certain politicians are touting. The politicians pushing it are set to personally profit off of it (which is why they're pushing it). In the end, basically we're pushing some nasty junk from Canada to our refineries that even China isn't willing to refine-- so that it can be sold BY CANADA (read: not us) TO CHINA (read: not us).

Look at the mapping, for crying out loud. It's pretty obvious, and nothing in the agreement requires Canada to sell to the U.S. This has nothing to do with benefiting the U.S. as a whole and everything to do with enriching Canada and the Chinese while a few Congress critters profit on the side.

The Libertarian Party has supported legalization for ages now. But the GOP is NOT the Libertarian Party. Republicans are not Libertarians. Period. I think that's what a lot of people don't get.

Republicans aren't anti-big-government any more than Democrats-- in fact they might be for bigger government. The only difference is that they prefer a red-flavor liberalism. They will big government and big spend circles around Democrats if it benefits them.

Because James Spann has fanboys that match the fervor and intelligence of the average Vampire Diaries-watching teenage girl who has a crush on Damon. Spann is their Damon. Don't you DARE insist that Damon is anything less than a god.

Seriously, imo, Spann is a drama queen who likes attention. All of the stations were covering the storm, and I didn't see any other meteorologists getting their panties in a wad over this. Instead, they all conducted themselves with maturity and humility. It's why I quit watching Spann years ago. The other weather shows do just fine, and without all the fake PANIC NOW stuff you get from Spann.

I like how all the GOP responses seem to include the same phrases nearly verbatim. Must be a coincidence.

Seriously, we're talking about members of the GOP reacting to a Democrat. Did anyone seriously expect them to like it-- regardless as to whether or not there was logic? The party of "bipartisan compromise" folks...

It would seem the al.com censors are out in full force, today. Every time I try to post something explaining the difference between capital gains and income (and why they should be taxed at the same rate), it doesn't see the light of day.

The pipeline would not have created nearly as many jobs as what Boehner and Co are claiming. That one was busted the LAST time he tried to push that talking point. Leveling out the tax code and providing relief to the middle class while investing in infrastructure would create at least four times as many jobs. Not to mention that the current tax system encourages shipping U.S. jobs overseas. Yet, you don't see the GOP wanting to change that... Granted, this is also the same GOP who claimed to want to "create jobs" while simultaneously firing gazillions of government workers-- which would be the opposite of creating jobs. In fact, Republicans who were elected in 2010 were actually able to fire enough public workers to neutralize and then surpass the GAINS in jobs in the private sector.